Lesson 34
Complaint to His Purse
1. Describe the form called rime royal: meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form.
The form rime royal is defined as a stanza with seven lines of iambic pentameter with a rhyming scheme of ababbcc. Which the poem “Complaint to His Purse,” follows this form for the first three stanzas, but then breaks into a five-lined envoy with a rhyme scheme of aabba. However, the three seven-lined stanza follow the form of rime-royal.
2. What is the structure of the poem? How do the imagery and argument of each stanza develop and intensify the appeal?
The poem is structured into three separate stanzas each with its own idea, then an envoy which supports the theme of the entire poem. With the first stanza the speaker was say, if he were as much of a spendthrift as his wife, he would be drunk all the time, from buying beer so much. Line five states, “Me were as lief be laid upon my beere. . .” The second stanza he is speaking to his wife, saying without her his life wouldn’t be the same. Line 12 states, “Ye be my life, ye be myn hertes steere. . .” The third stanza Chaucer was asking his wife to help him leave, he stated “And saviour, as in the world down here,/ Out of this towne helpe me thurgh your might. . .” (Lines 16-17).
3. In exploring the extended metaphor of the poem, consider how diction accounts for the humor of Chaucer’s parody.
The extended metaphor of the poem is that Chaucer is comparing his love for his wife to the money in his purse. The diction however accounts for the humor because of the hyperbole of comparison. He repeats the line “Beeth hevy again, or elles moot I die.” (Lines 7, 14, 21). The exaggeration of him dying without his wife’s love, is a bit much.
4. How does the envoy continue the tone of the poem even as it addresses a specific person?
The envoy continues the tone of the poem, despite addressing a specific person because the message is exactly the same. Henry IV was apparently a conqueror, “O conquerour of Brutus Albioun. . .” and a ruthless one at that. However the envoy was to state that Henry IV has the authority, or power rather, to “amende” any of the speakers issues. (I had to refer to the back, and I still don’t quite see it, I mean I see how you could translate that interpretation directly from the text. However, I don’t see how you can figuratively relate it to the rest of the poem.)
